Signage warning of power lines overhead is seen next to a burned-out vehicle in Paradise, California, on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. PG&E Co., California's biggest utility owner, faces $30 billion in potential wildfire liabilities, and its bankruptcy plan has reverberated across the power industry. The states big utilities have seen their shares plunge since November's deadly Camp Fire, and PG&E's debt rating has been cut to junk status. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
A series of devastating wildfires that killed more than 100 people and scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in California over the course of two years just brought one of America's largest utilities to its knees.
PG&E Corp. and its Pacific Gas & Electric Co. utility filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in San Francisco as investigators probe whether its equipment ignited the deadliest fire in state history. The San Francisco-based company listed $51.7 billion in total debts and $71.4 billion in assets. A Chapter 11 filing allows a company to keep operating while it works out a plan to turn the business around and pay off creditors.
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